Mission Style Frames Minus the Miters

My wife recently came home
with an interesting missionstyle
picture frame she wanted me to
reproduce for her. It consisted of twin
rails using half lap joints in the corners
rather than miters. This lent a substantial
but graceful look with just a small
amount of stock.
Looking it over, I saw that with a few
modifications, it would make a fun and
useful weekend project.
The store-bought frame uses two
different sets of parts. Simple square
pieces form the outer rails, and a
different set milled to include the
rabbet for the artwork make up the
inner rails. By milling the rabbet after
assembly, both sets of rails can be made
exactly the same way.
Now typically,
I would form the half laps by milling a wider piece

of stock,
cut the dadoes, then rip the stock down
to create the square pieces. For this
project, I decided to build a simple jig
to cut the half laps after the stock was
ripped. Here’s why. First, I wanted to
use offcuts and other scraps I already
had. Second, I was planning on making
a number of frames of different sizes.
Each frame requires sides and ends, so
the measuring and marking for the half
laps was looking like a long haul.
The jig cuts the half laps oriented
from the ends of the stock. One setup is
all you need to cut all the parts, even if
you are making different-sized frames
at the same time.
In fact, altering the lengths of the
individual parts is the only adjustment

Stock
preparation
The double frame
allows for using smallish off-rips, but
as always, stock preparation is the key
to success. The stock must be square,
straight and true, with no knots or
blemishes. Any warp or twist after
assembly will stick out like a sore
thumb.

Begin by resawing the scraps to ¾"
x ¾". This gives plenty of room for jointing and planing the stock to true
it up. Plane them down to ½" thick
and 5/8" wide. The frame members
will ultimately finish at ½" square, but
I learned a long time ago to cut my
half laps fi rst, then plane and/or sand
the parts to fi t. This is far easier than
milling all the stock then trying to set
up your dado stack to the exact width
of your carefully milled parts.

Cutting to length With all your stock at ½" by " it is
time to crosscut the pieces to length.
Determining the lengths is simple: All
you need to know is the overall size of
the picture being framed, including
any borders or mats, then add 2½".
For example, an 8" x 10" photo in a
standard 11" x 14" mat needs a frame
13½" x 16½". So for this frame, crosscut
four pieces at

13½" and four at 16½".
Couldn’t be simpler. With all the parts sized and cut to
length, it’s time to mill the half laps. But
fi rst, we’ll build a jig.
Building the jig
The half lap jig is really a modified box
joint jig. Set up a stacked dado for a ½"-
wide cut at a depth of about ¼". Test
the depth with a leftover piece of your
prepared stock. Cut one end, then turn
the cut upward and cut again. The two
should just meet in the middle, but not
overlap (Fig. 1).

The fit should be snug when the
parts are slid together, but you should
not need to force them. One note:
hand sanding to fit is risky, because
it is very difficult to achieve uniform
results across the part.

AssemblyAssembling the frames is quite easy. I
applied a thin layer of glue to each half
lap using a small brush. Squeeze-out
in and around all those meeting edges
is a pain to clean up, so apply the glue
sparingly. Another potential problem
is that too much glue in a good snug
joint has no way to squeeze out either,
so it can hold the joints open.
Clamping can be as simple as using
spring clamps, but I prefer using
parallel wooden clamps. There are
four points of contact in each corner
(Fig. 5), and the wide wooden jaws
span them all nicely.

Milling the rabbet
Once the glue has cured, make sure the
overlapping pieces are all flush. I made
seven frames at the same time, and for
some reason one of them needed a bit
of touchup. A sharp block plane makes
short work of cleaning up the edges.
The rabbet that will accept the
artwork and glass is ¼" x ¼" (Fig. 6).
If you plan to use a double mat, you
may want to increase the depth to 15/16".
I used a rabbet bit in the router
table. To minimize chipping, you may
want to use a larger bearing first to
make a shallow cut, then re-cut with
the proper size bearing. You can also
set the bit shallow and raise it to final
height.
Square up the corners of the rabbet
with a chisel (Fig. 7). Be sure that the
frame is solidly supported underneath;
otherwise you risk splitting the parts.

Final stepsThe simplest method of hanging these
frames is a pair of small eye hooks and
picture wire. I prefer the frame to hang
flat to the wall, so I milled in hook slots
using a keyhole bit (Fig. 8 w/inset).

With the depth set,
clamp a straight
piece of hardwood to the miter gauge as a backer and make one pass through
it. Unclamp the backer, and fit a small
block into the groove to act as an
index key. With the key in place, align
the backer so that the key is ½" to
the side of the dado stack. I used the
½" side of the stock itself to set the
spacing (Fig. 2).
Securely clamp or screw the backer
to the miter gauge. It must not move.
Two dadoes are needed on each end of
the parts. The key sets the inner cut,
but for the end cut, I added a flip stop.
It is simply a small block with a hole
drilled in one end for a pivot screwed
onto the backer so that the end
opposite the pivot is exactly aligned
with the edge of the dado stack.
Cutting the half laps
Now it’s simply a matter of cutting all
the half laps. Flip the stop down, slide
the part over until it meets the stop

and cut (Fig. 3). Flip the stop out of
the way, slide the part over until the
open half lap you just cut is resting
over the key and cut again (Fig. 4).
This process is done to both ends of
each part.Again, because the jig indexes the
cut from the ends, all the parts, even
from different frames, can be cut in
the same setup.
With all the half laps cut, it is time
to size the width of the parts to fit. I
used my benchtop planer, taking very
shallow cuts. Here, it is very important
to make sure that your planer is set up
properly to avoid snipping the ends of
the parts. I always test with my leftover
material at each new depth setting
before planing my good stock.
If you own a drum sander, you can
make the last few passes there, but
careful attention with a properly set
planer will give you a good fit.

I marked the center of one end and
one side with low tack tape, then again
on the router table, I carefully guided
the bit into the outer rail then backed
it out. Take care not to hit the inner
rail when backing out of the cut.
I tried a couple of different finishes
for these frames, including spray
shellac in a can, danish oil, waterbased
poly sprayed from my HVLP
system, and spray paint. All gave good
results. The narrow surfaces don’t tend
to show flaws easily.
The easy way to add the glass to
the frame is to have a local glass shop
cut your glass to size. Since the rabbet
is fairly shallow, you’ll need 1/8"-thick
glass.
In my house, with kids and pets, we
prefer using 1/8" acrylic. Many home
centers carry standard picture sizes
precut. Many will also cut pieces to
size for you.
Cutting your own is quite easy too.
To minimize chipping, use a clean,
sharp 60-tooth blade. Triple chip grind
is best, but alternating top bevel works
very well too. Use a zero-clearance
insert for proper support. Cut the
plastic to the same size as your mat.
Cutting thin materials like this
requires a few safety notes. Use the
blade guard. The thin plastic will want
to ride up the front of the blade and
the guard helps hold it down to the
table. Keeping the blade a bit higher
than normal minimizes this effect.
Thin stock may also be able to slip
under the rip fence. A piece of ¼"
ply can help keep the edge above the
bottom of the rip fence.Variations on a theme
One of the interesting benefits of this
project was experimenting with the

frame styles. Different finishes and
details, and even making new parts,
allowed me to play with all sorts of
different looks.
Giving the frame a gloss black finish
creates an Asian look, or the oak frame
can be further distinguished as mission
style by adding pyramid pegs to the
corner holes. The cherry frame can
be accented with maple blocks set low
into the corner holes. Make them with
a table saw, a simple stop system, equal
lengths of stock, and (for pyramid
pegs) the saw blade set at the desired
angle (Fig. 9). I added a bit of extra
length to the inner rails of the maple
frame to get a more contemporary
look.
Once you get familiar with making
the basic frames, try figuring out
different changes and designs. Have
fun with it! They may not all turn out
well, but you’ll learn a lot about design
elements.
This turned into a fun and
useful project. I hate making frames
generally, but my new technique
enabled me to make the frames shown
here in a weekend. I have many more
pictures to frame, but I don’t dread the
task anymore.

A professional woodworker for 20 years, Ralph Bagnall
builds reproduction furniture in his home shop, and has
been teaching and writing for the past several years.